By Anastasia Goodstein (2007)

Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are Really Doing Online by Anastasia Goodstein is approaching a second printing, and it was just released in March 2007. This book is a great read for parents of teens and tweens who need more information about the technological lives of their children. Totally wired provides this information. It also provides a glossary, resources, and interviews with teens, professionals, and parents about Internet use, safety and its potential for good. Being a teen is not what it used to be and parents need a little techno-tutoring, which this easy-to-read book provides.

Goodstein offers some wonderful content, including a sidebar about the moral panic of different generations sure that youth would be ruined--reading (18th century), movie houses (1900s), dancing and jazz (1920s), comic books (1930s), Elvis Presley (1950s), and as a boomer, I would add free love (1960s). None of these trends ruined an entire generation. Goodstein provides a demographic summary of baby boomers (born between 1945 and 1965), Generation X (1965 to 1985), and Generation Y (1985 to today), that is informative, and in a strange way, comforting, about what it means to be growing up digitally. She refocuses the fear about our kids being approached by predators into a teachable moment--teach them not to respond--and educates us about the rewards of being totally wired. Some of this was new to me!

Wired also reinforces the need for parents to connect with their kids: hear their music, see their Myspace page and play their video games. This can help you keep a dialogue open, share their experiences and set boundaries for them. The inner life of teens is far more public than most parents can imagine. Our kids need to understand how sharing their feelings or pictures could invite negative judgment or outcomes from schools, employers or college admissions staff. This is a new parenting task, and one that this book will prepare us to do.

I encourage every parent to read this book, go to some of the Internet sites listed and "get connected." The world our children are growing up in is changing--and we need to keep up.

Back to top